Despite war going on in Ukraine, about half of those who fled the country returned but the internally displaced persons remain high.
In its latest report, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that more than 5.5 million displaced persons returned to their homes while the overall number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) remained high at over 6.2 million. The report said that the people who mainly returned to the North of the country and to the capital Kyiv.
The report also stated that the number of returns has grown significantly – by 24 per cent – over the last month. Most returnees have returned to their homes from other locations within Ukraine and about three-quarters of those people plan to stay, the report pointed out. The IOM said that only ten per cent of people are returning to Ukraine from abroad. The organisation came out with the report after the sixth round of the general population survey conducted between 17 June and 23 June.
THE NEEDS
In the report, the IOM stresses that the most pressing needs of both displaced and nondisplaced persons include access to health services and education, as well as rehabilitation of damaged homes. Alarmingly, the IOM survey revealed that almost one in four people (23 per cent) in Ukraine had to stop using their medication during the war, because it was either unavailable or too expensive.
The survey also sheds light on a dire situation: access to education has been particularly precarious among children in displaced households. As many as 38 per cent of families with children aged 5-17 among displaced people and 25 per cent among non-displaced stated that their children did not have full access to education. The situation is most critical in the East of the country, where 16 per cent of displaced households with children of school age indicated they had no access to education at all.
HEALTH CARE AND SHELTER
Almost ten per cent of all respondents, and 15 per cent of returnees, revealed that their home was damaged by war. This results in growing needs for shelter repair materials and assistance, especially among returnees. In response to growing health care and shelter needs, IOM is responding swiftly. IOM’s mobile medical teams have provided more than 9,000 health care and psychological consultations in western Ukraine. More than 40 facilities benefited from IOM’s shelter rehabilitation works in Lviv, Uzhhorod, Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dnipro, and Poltava regions. IOM is al so planning longer term housing solutions in the regions of displacement and in the war-damaged cities of return.
